HYDERABAD, April 15: Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority chairman Abdul Haq has appealed to the people to launch a joint struggle against the menace of water theft.

He said this while speaking as chief guest at a one-day workshop on "Water Theft, Tampering of Watercourses and Water Requirements of Crops" jointly organized by Sida, NDP-Sindh and Nara Canal Area Water Board in Tandojam on Wednesday.

Mr Haq said the theft of water was a bigger crime than electricity as by stealing water a farmer robed his fellow farmers. He warned that in case the water theft was not checked effectively it was bound to have devastating affect on the entire agro-economy.

He called upon the participants of the workshop to launch a joint and consistent struggle against the water theft. Sida managing director Prof Aijaz Qureshi claimed that thousands of cusecs of water could be saved if the operation against water theft was launched in Sindh on the pattern of Left Bank Canal Area Water Board.

He said so far about 300 cusecs of water had been saved by removing more than 100 unauthorized machines along Akram Wah and Imam Wah in two phases by the LBCAWB. Mr Qureshi said the revolution in the irrigation system could be heralded if principle of participatory management was put into practice through the joint efforts of Sida and farmers.

Sindhu Agriculture Forum chairman Mir Aman Talpur appreciated the efforts of Sida for keeping close coordination with farmers. He dispelled the propaganda launched against Sida by some vested interests.

He claimed that he had increased his agricultural output by 50 per cent by applying the principles of crop economy and water economy. Members of the LBCAWB, Umer Farooq and Nawaz Memon, also applauded the role of Sida in revolutionizing the irrigation system.

They gave details of the operation launched against the illegal pipes in the jurisdiction of LBCAWB. They expressed determination that if growers were to unite on the platform of FOs, they could uproot many malpractice which had plagued the entire irrigation system.

FO Rabitiani minor chairman Gulzar Hussain said under theSida programme his FO stopped water theft in its jurisdiction in addition to reforming watercourses of their FO.

At the end of the workshop "water theft control awards" were distributed to those who had played vital role in the campaign launched against water theft in the Left Bank Canal AWB command area.

Seminar: The late Allama I.I. Kazi was not only the founder vice chancellor of Sindh University, but he was also a great scholar, a great teacher, a great educationist, a great reformer and over and above all, a great human being. These views were expressed by eminent scholars and intellectuals at a seminar on "Allama I.I. Kazi's concept of Islam", held here the other day.